A mother broke down and confessed to killing her “missing” three-year-old son after being confronted with evidence that she had made a 50-mile round trip to dump his body.

Rosdeep Adekoya lost her temper and killed her son, Mikaeel Kular, inflicting more than 40 separate injuries, before hiding his body in woodland inside a suitcase. She then tried to cover up her crime by reporting him missing, sparking a huge search by police and the community in January this year.

But a police examination of her computer revealed she had used search terms including “I find it hard to love my son”, “Why am I so aggressive with my son” and “Get rid of bruises”.

They confronted the 34-year-old with evidence from her mobile phone provider that showed that she had driven from her Edinburgh home to Fife the day after her son died.

She broke down and took officers to where she had dumped her son’s body, wrapped in a duvet cover inside a suitcase, behind her sister’s home in Kirkcaldy. “It was an accident and I panicked,” she told police.

Adekoya was charged with murder but pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday to the lesser charge of culpable homicide. She will be sentenced next month.

A major police investigation was launched after Mikaeel was reported missing from his Ferry Gait Crescent home in the Scottish capital

The court heard that she attacked her son after he was repeatedly sick following a family outing to a Nando’s restaurant in January.

Adekoya – who suffered from long-standing mental health problems – dragged him to the shower and beat him on the back as he lay over the edge of the bath, causing fatal injuries.

He died two days later after his condition worsened and he was kept home from nursery. The court heard that his life could have been saved had she taken him to a doctor but she did not do so because of the bruising. Advocate depute Alex Prentice said: “The pain would have increased significantly while Mikaeel became dangerously ill … finally dying as a result of the injuries inflicted upon him by the accused.”

Video: Mikaeel Kular's mother charged in January

Adekoya found his body the next morning, putting him in a suitcase before taking his twin sister to nursery. She later drove to Fife to dump the body and reported him missing the following day.

Brian McConnachie QC, counsel for the defence, told the court that Adekoya was not a monster. “It appears from every source … that this has been a brief period when this young woman has lost her temper and behaved in a way which is totally out of character for her,” he said. “She would have to live with the consequences for the rest of her life.”

Adekoya had planned to put Mikaeel and his twin sister up for adoption following the break-up of her relationship with their father, but later changed her mind.